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Round Rock elementary students get hands-on tech experience

Round Rock elementary students get hands-on tech experience

The electronic brains were good, but at least once a human brain did them one better.

Adin Lee was among the Callison Elementary School fifth-graders participating in Williamson County’s Geographic Information Systems Day Nov. 18 at Dell Diamond.

Sitting with classmates at a table, Adin – with some adult assistance – was using a computer to find the street where he lives. The problem was — in such a fast-growing area like Williamson County — Adin’s street had not yet been plotted on the map.

So Adin adapted, improvised and overcame.

“I first started by checking where my school was, because my house is close to the school,” he said. “I picked out exactly where my house was, from memory.”

Adin impressed the grownups around him — especially those who, when they were his age, were lucky if they could get a dog to sit. But for this one 10-year-old, it was all just another day at the office.

“In my family, I’m the computer one,” Adin said.

County Public Safety Technology Director Richard Semple and GIS Manager George Strebel were among those leading the Nov. 18 program. It was open to the general public in the afternoon, but the Callison fifth-graders got an exclusive hands-on tour of their own in the morning.

Semple explained that GIS is takes maps and uses them to form a computer database, to add information to those maps. “It could be population density,” he said. “It could be roads in various conditions – good condition, bad condition.”

“It’s weather radar,” he continued. “A good example in public safety would be using 911 for first responders. When a call comes in, we can plot that on a map and figure out where the nearest ambulance is.”

GIS technology also has other applications. The county hazardous materials unit commonly uses GIS to model where the gas will flow and who will be affected during a gas leak, Semple said.

Back inside United Heritage Center, Callison fifth-grader Madison Nava said she thought it was cool being able to find her house by using the computer. Mallory Walker, from the Williamson County Appraisal District, helped Madison and other students look up their streets.

“We’re learning how to control the maps,” Madison said. “I like how you can type in something (an address) and it will pop up. You can zoom in to get a closer look at the place you are searching for.”

Rachel Mackey, a Callison teacher who accompanied the fifth-graders to Dell Diamond, said hands-on experience such as this complement what students are learning in her classroom.

Watching a National Weather Service demonstration about how GIS technology aids meteorologists, Mackey noted: “In science, in fifth-grade, they have to understand what a cold front looks like. This field trip covers so much. It puts a real life application to it.”

Mackey and Semple each noted that children today — even ones younger than these fifth-graders — are comfortable with technology. They’re literally growing up with it and have never known a world without it.

That can make for some generational humor, Semple noted. He recalled the 18-year-old intern in his office, who was asked to check a landline telephone to see if it had a dial tone.